Working on Projects

Today students worked on their projects (see below) and took brief notes on what to include for the chemical environment.

Office of the Director

United States Environmental Projection Agency

March 27^th, 2008

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you as the Director of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment. Since 1970, EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people. With all of the deforestation, conflict and climate change, we are very worried that many of the earth’s biomes will disappear or be severely altered in the coming century. In an effort to preserve these precious ecosystems we, at the EPA, are creating a Biome Museum in Washington, DC.

I am requesting that you create an exhibit (in the form of a poster, powerpoint or diorama) on the ------biome. I have spoken to your teacher and she is fully on board with this project and will be counting it as a test grade. Your exhibit must include the following information:

* description of the physical environment.

* description of the chemical environment

* description of the geologic features

* description of the photosynthetic organisms

* description of the animals

* description of how human impact has disrupted this biome

* at least 5 images (and of course citations for each image)

* a proper MLA style bibliography

You will need to gather information from at least 4 separate sources and cite these in the proper MLA format. I understand that you recently completed a large genetics project where you needed to cite information using footnotes, you should do the same thing for this exhibit. You may NOT work with a partner and as we at the EPA are very busy and the Biome Museum is opening shortly, your exhibits must be completed for a five minute oral presentation to your peers in class on Monday March 31^st.

I recommend you look at these websites for helpful information
UC Berkley: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/index.php

Blue Planet: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/world_biomes.htm

Enchanted Learning: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/

Sincerely,

Jane Sibert

Yes! You do have class on Thursday March 26!

Yes, even though I am going to the NSTA conference in Boston, you still have class.

Mrs. Joslin will be covering F block and Mr. Brummer will be covering E block.

Welcome to our Spring Unit!

This spring we will be focusing on the human impact on ecosystems and attempting to answer questions such as:

¨ As the global population increases and competition for natural resources becomes increasingly fierce, how will our environment change?

¨ What is the impact that an individual has on his or her environment?

¨ What is sustainable development and how will it shape the future?

¨ Climate change is more than rising temperatures. What will happen to ecosystems and the spread of disease as the Earth’s temperature rises?

Today in class students created brainstorm posters on what comes to mind when they hear the words "ecology," "sustainability" and "human impact." They then shared their ideas with the class.

Homework: Read pages 742-748 and complete the following:
1. What is the title of section 34.1?
2. Make flashcards for the key terms on page 744.
3. Complete concept check questions 1-5 in the concept check on page 748.

Stay Tuned!

This spring global problems, local solutions will take on a new look. Stay tuned for updates to come at the end of March.

Links to student projects

Links to four of the projects are posted on the right. Some of the movies are too large to post, but if you would like to see them, leave a comment with your email and I will send them to you. Thanks!

Things to change for the project next year

I can't thank all of you enough who were the guinea pigs for this experiment in a global problems, local solutions curriculum. This was the first time I ever tried anything like this and was really impressed by the work that all of you put in. Here's the feedback you gave for ways to change/improve the project for next year.

Most of the feedback you gave fit into these categories:

No more than two groups per topic, first come first serve blog posting.

Give students a better explanation of why they are doing research.

Mandatory group meetings with Ms. Saxe

More variety of topics

Better timeline for turning in assignments; set dates and times for turning in work.

Present the projects earlier in the term, especially because the Sophomores are going on the Expedition.

More opportunities to practice public speaking throughout the year.

Wrap up on the presentations

During the last class period we reflected on what skills were learned in the process of completing the presentations.

"Learned to research things on the web better, because before I was really bad at it and my dad would make fun of me for it. It’s a lot easier to find things, now I know how to search."

"I’ve never been the one to pick up the slack, I’ve always been the slacker, but with this project I picked up the slack."

Here's some of the valuable things that we learned:

If you’re editing a movie don’t do it the day it is due

If you are editing a movie the day it is due, make sure you have someone around knows what they are doing.

How to make a website using only HTML.

Public speaking skills: face the audience and project your voice. make sure that everyone speaks the same amount. Had a script and practiced, equally distributed.

Time management: don’t wait to the last minute, delegating. Misinterpretation of directions, don’t be lazy. Read the directions for the assignment.

Test your presentation before you do it to make sure it works.

If you offer the audience the chance to ask questions you need to know what you’re talking about:

Time management: pay more attention to deadlines.

Learned how to make a blog

Make a better PowerPoint

Learned how to make a PowerPoint

I learned that communication between group members is really important.

How to make t-shirts

I can do just about anything on MySpace